I hope this makes someone smile.

This is Rugby 2006 from EA Sports .  It explains the real life game to video gamers who will never grow out of video games.

Q: How do you build a temple to God?

A: One brick at a time. 

Our team builds its temple using the bricks that separate the gay and straight communities.

The San Francisco Fog is the sun in my solar system.  I need adrenaline to keep sane; if the calamites of my life were my prison then games with the fog would be the yard-time.

One of my goals moving into the city was finding a rugby team to play with.  I needed a circle of friends I can network with and can party as wild as me.  My girlfriend saw a man with a rugby hat while working a shift at her coffee shop.  She explained that her boyfriend was looking for a team to play for and the connection was made.

The fog is primarily for, gay men and men of color.  Being half Filipino, I was accepted on a technicality.  Actually, the inclusive nature of the fog was much more welcoming than my former college team (WSU).  Always eager for talent, the fog was looking to build a dynasty.

The team is founded by a modern American hero.  Mark Bingham was on United flight 93 and helped stop the terrorist from reaching their target by rushing the cockpit along with other brave soles. He started the San Francisco Fog with a few dedicated people who may or may not have ever played rugby before.  Their first years were the hardest and I sympathize with them, getting whooped on and not having players one the bench to substitute is a demoralizing situation to overcome.  

In honor of his death, the International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB) was formed and put together the first international gay rugby tournament in San Francisco.  The Fog has been the champions of this bi-annual tournament since in inception in 2002. The third Bingham Cup is set to take place this May.

As a straight man on a gay rugby team, I take audit of my heterosexuality.  I live like the boy in the book, Where the Wild Things Are, having found my place among the wild beasts.  For a rugby player, this feels like home. As a straight man, I feel like a caged parrot freed to into the hazards of a wild jungle.

All the people who support the team our like family to me and we are as diverse as the bay area itself.  I know lawyers, career coaches, nurses, gardeners, minor league rugby players; even my insurance agent is on the team. 

 
Over time the Fog has become more and more competitive.  I would really like to win more games.  We keep building on our strengths every year and this year we defend the Bingham Cup again - a first time for me.  I wont let my guys down.

San Francisco is my new home.  As a young man in love, I came here with a blond haired philosophy grad student and our little mutt of a dog.  I got a job at a car rental agency and began learning how to navigate trough the busy city streets.   As my promotion prospects dwindled my relationship took a nose dive.  I abandoned my only support I had to stay on a strangers couch for $400 a month.

With no savings and no knowledge of financial responsibility, I had three things going my way; a Kawasaki Ninja 500, my ex's Xbox, and an Arbor Mystic freestyle snowboard.

I had made a friend in a co-worker named Bonnie.  We went snowboarding together and became inseparable shortly after.  Taught her everything she knows about snowboarding and drinking.

I got my own room in the Sunset district.  That roommate ended up taking my security deposit after the landlord decided to sell the house.  Bonnie took me in; she had recently moved 2 blocks from me and helped me back on my feet.  My new life with Bonnie started by having my motorcycle stolen.  Between my ex-girlfriend and my old roommate, this is the first time in my life when I had enemies. 

The bike was found 3 blocks from the house.  Hotwired and vandalized, the only thing worse than its condition was my pocket book; what a relief it was still repairable.  Fortunately, my father taught me some mechanics.  Lucy is gone, my date-raped motorcycle is now named the devils cross.  The commute doesnt get more dangerous.

 I had an inclination to get my pride back.  That's when I found out a stop payment on a check is only enforced for six months.  After the stop payment expired the check was cashed by my ex who I had lost contact with.  As a consequence, lunch breaks were spent eating spiritual food; writing in my journal and praying.

 My insurance covered therapy and so I went to a shrink.  I have a friend who is a banker and I got my money back.  I never turned my tail and ran. I have a girl who loves me dearly.  I love her and I love my life; I just got stretched a little thin. 

San Francisco has took me in, and I call her home.

I'm still looking for a career versus a job and I've found a new family in the San Francisco Fog Rugby club. 

One of my purchases since moving to California was a Kawasaki Ninja.  Besides the BART, (Bay Area Rapid Transit) it is my main source of transportation. 

Purchased with 13,000 miles, this bike was once totaled.  I gave it the name Lucy after the oldest hominid discovery. 

As a motorcycle commuter, I am not influenced by traffic because it is legal for me to drive between the lanes.  Danger is always a factor in my daily life.  I could brag about living it but I was brought into my situation through necessity.  Ride or die

 The winter rain can soak you to the bone.  But northern Cali weather will allow a person to ride a motorcycle year round. 

 
Everything you need must be able to fit into a backpack or take up no more space than a toaster oven.  This was a fundamental change for me to: grocery shop, work out, or be a designated driver. =)

 Ive been in two accidents.  Both of these Ive had to ride home from.  

 On days when the rain is pouring, I sing to myself to ignore how cold I am or how I can hardly feel my rain soaked fingers; the song is always the chorus of Godsmack's
voodoo.

Fun on the weekend

President's day weekend was a blast I took some photo's at my friend Patrick's house.  He and Jim were playing bass before we met up with some girls at the Boom Boom Room.